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It's a question that has plagued many a prospective computer user - which is better, a Windows PC or an Apple Mac? The debate has raged between fans of both platforms for over two decades. Apple's famously stylish products traditionally appeal to creative media professionals and general consumers, while the PC is so ubiquitous that it defies making huge steps forward, Mac sales are a small proportion of the Windows-dominated PC market.
What sets Apple apart from other computer manufacturers? Apple is the only company to produce computers running it Apple OS X operating system, while Microsoft's Windows is available for everyone to use, from corporate behemoths such as Sony to individuals who are building their own PCs. The former guarantees hardware compatibility and quality, while the latter allows greater freedom and versatility.
Pricing is a key factor. The cheapest MacBook costs Rs 56,000 - more than most Windows based models. We only include Apple products in group tests occasionally; the small number of models and higher prices means there often isn't a Mac to fit our criteria. This doesn't mean they aren't worthy of considerations, especially given the success of the iPhone and iPod. More people are making the switch, but is it right move for you?
Today Microsoft has the dominant market share, and over 89 percent of global computer users run Windows. But it wasn't always this way; in the 1980s, when computer operating systems were text-based and reasonably machine costs Rs 70,000, Apple was establishing itself as top dog, Pre-empting the launch of Windows by a year with its own graphical user interface (GUI) OS, the company established an early lead over the competition that remained strong - until Microsoft launched Windows 95.
Apple struggled in the 1990s. It did build a steady following of media professionals, thanks to its support of QuarkXpress and Adobe Photoshop, a legacy that continues to this day; most graphic designers, music producers and video editors work on Apple hardware, as do we when working on The Pirado. For most home users, though, Windows quickly became the accepted standard, and the Mac a niche product.
Fast-forward to the present day, and the iPod and iPhone have reversed Apple's fortunes, making it one of the world's best-known and well-respected companies. The latest version of Mac OS X is far more refined, and as it improves the 'Cult of Mac' is expanding with it.
While Apple goes from strength to strength, Microsoft isn't resting on its laurels. After the less-than successful Vista, Windows 7 is a huge improvement over previous versions. Indeed, it's already set to overtake XP as the most popular version of the Operating system. Windows-based systems are incredibly versatile. It's this versatility that means Windows can be found in just every walk of like, from cashpoints to the most powerful gaming PCs in the world.
All Systems GO
Both Windows and Mac OS X have improved massively since they were introduced - both taking advantage of new technologies and faster hardware and adapting to new computing trends such as social networking and media streaming. They are plenty of reasons to consider each Operating System - here we give you the truth about the benefits and pitfalls of your choice.
We've put together a comprehensive guide to help you make an informed decision. We're putting bias aside : some of our friends use PC, some use MAC and some use both, so we've strived for a balanced, objective analysis.
As well as comparing the Operating Systems and their respective hardware, we take a look at design, price and usability. From apple, we've taken the iMac desktop PC and a MacBook laptop. Representing Windows, we've built a PC using components similar to those Apple uses in the iMac, and an Asus laptop that costs Rs. 52,000.
PC Versus MAC
MAC
Apple is responsible for producing every aspect of a Mac, from the hardware and the operating system right down to the lovingly designed packaging. This ensures a certain level of quality, but also limits choice.
Design
Every Apple product undergoes meticulous design, overseen by British designer Jonathan Ive. Ive has been responsible for the minimalist appearance of Apple's line-up for the best part of a decade, shaping not only the iPhone and iPad but also iMac and the stunning MacBook Air. The latest iMac has a unibody aluminium chassis that is precision-cut from a block of metal to keep superfluous lines to a minimum. Even the MacBook, which is made from polycarbonate plastic, uses a similar process.
As well as looking great, Apple frequently introduces innovative new ideas to make its kit stand out from the competition. It has embraced wireless technologies to keep desk clutter to a minimum. Most users need only plug in a power lead does throw up one or two issues; to plug in a USB memory stick, you must reach around the back, as the ports are all located at the rear of the device. The SD card and DVD drive are more convenient side-mounted, through.
The MagSafe power connector uses a magnet to keep the cable tethered to the MacBook it is charging, so if it gets yanked accidentally it won't pull the laptop off your desk or lap. This is now a feature of every MacBook.
Taking a lead from its iPhone, Apple has introduced multi-touch gestures into its laptops. Its oversized touchpads provide plenty of room for two, three and even four finger gestures, which are built into the OS. Scrolling, rotating and punch-to-zoom are all slick, with no noticeable delay. Multi-touch is also accurate, rarely triggering a gesture by mistake.
In spite of these impressive innovations, Apple is behind the competition in certain areas. A second mouse button is a relatively new concept for many Mac owners, who are used to holding down the option key to bring up context sensitive menus. Apple has finally relented and added one to the Mighty Mouse which should ship as standard with all new iMacs.
Build Quality
Apple is renowned for the excellent construction of its products. The aluminium chassis of the iMac and MacBook Pro is incredibly rigid and scratch-resistant. The polycarbonate plastic used for the MacBook is reinforced and equally tough, with no noticeable flex and certainly no loose or weak-feeling panels. Apple also uses aluminium in many peripherals, including the Mighty Mouse and wireless keyboard. The keyboard in particular feels impressively sturdy.
However, there have been reports of iMacs overheating and of dust getting caught beneath the screen. Apple admitted a problem with the 27in iMac, releasing a software update ti prevent some screen flicker and unusual colour tints. It's worth remembering that for all their vaunted design, Apple products are put together in the same factories in China as Windows-based products.
Apple provides a typical one-year warranty on their products for hardware failure. It also provides 90 days of complimentary telephone support. You can extend your warranty support to 3 years with AppleCare, but this costs about Rs. 13,000 (for a MacBook).
Upgrades
Although it looks fantastic, the iMac's unibody design is difficult to openm requiring specialist tools and patience. Replacing the memory is relatively easy; the RAM slots are hidden behind a small cover beneath the screen. Replacing or upgrading other components requires more work - first, by removing the screen from the main chassis using suction cups and a Torx screwdriver.
Because Apple uses a lot of mobile components in its desktop machines, only a few parts can be upgraded by the end user. Beyond the optical drive or hard disk, almost every other component is available only through Apple as a replacement part. Unlike a PC, where a faulty or out-of-date graphics card can be replaced by a new one of any make or model, the iMac isn't user-upgradable. Unlike a desktop PC, you can't change the display for a new one-but then we can't see any reason, bar a malfunction, why you'd want to give up the stunning IPS panel.
It's a similar story for MacBook laptops, which are even harder to upgrade than their already difficult Windows counterparts. MacBook batteries are sealed units that can be hard to replace. When the battery loses its ability to hold a charge, the laptop must be returned to Apple for a replacement. Typically, a new battery costs around Rs.7,000, which also includes installation.
It can take a lot of effort to upgrade an Apple machine yourself, but there are plenty of online resources to help make the task easier ; one of the best is www.ifixit.com .However, Apple's warranty won't cover opening a Mac product beyond replacing or upgrading the memory.
Buying Options
The key point to consider when buying a Mac is cyclical nature of Apple's hardware business. Most of Mac product lines have been running for a new generations, with regular revisions and the odd redesign. There have been 3 main versions of the MacBook since 2006- two with plastic bodies and one (discontinued) aluminium design - and eight minor revision, mainly incremental processor speed increases. A new Mac is comparable to Windows PCs released at the same time. However, the hardware becomes dated over subsequent months until a minor revision comes along, and can age badly until the next redesign moves the product to a new chipset and processor architecture. If you buy the MacBook tested here, you're getting an Intel processor that's two generations old. Despite this, Apple does not drop the price on hardware as its ages.
There are several other Apple products worth consideration. The Mac Mini, a small form-factor PC, costs Rs. 40,000. It doesn't include a monitor or peripherals, but its compact dimensions make it an ideal home theater or second PC, although its hardware is looking dated.
The thin MacBook Air is a thing of beauty. Less than 17mm thick and weighing just 1.3kg it's one of the thinnest ultra-portable laptops around. There's an older Core 2 Duo processor, but it's more than fast enough for running basic tasks on OS X, and there's a definite speed boost from the SSD storage. Available as either in 11in or 13in model, prices start from around Rs. 56,000.
For power users, there's the MacBook pro laptop and Mac Pro desktop PC. The MacBook Pro is available in 13, 15, 17in models is versatile, portable and easily as powerful as a desktop computer. For even more power, the Mac Pro's tower-style desktop PC can be configured a high spec. But price start at around Rs. 1,30,000, and that's before you even factor in the price of a monitor.
Additional Hardware
Apple produces a range of peripherals beyond the Mighty Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. The newest addition to the range is the Rs. 4,000 Magic Trackpad, bringing the functionality of a laptop touchpad to a desktop iMac. Stylish and made from aluminium, it blends seamlessly with Apple's other products. Muti-touch gestures work just as well on an iMac, but the Magic Trackpad will be more useful for OS 10.7(Lion) launches in the summer. Refinements to the OS look set to exploit muti-touch further.
Adding a second monitor to an iMac can look odd, unless you choose Apple's Cinema Display. This 27in, Rs. 60,000 (around) giant matches the iMac's design and includes a built-in webcam, MagSafe power adaptor and mini DisplayPort connectivity.
Wireless connectivity is one of the iMac's strengths, so it's unsurprising that Apple offers a home network kit. Available in Express or Extreme the Airport unit integrates a wireless access point, media streamer and print server in one modem, but it's still user friendly and it's compatible wth PCs as well as Macs.
PC
Unlike Apple, where one company is responsible for designing both hardware and software, a multitude of different manufacturers produce PC components. Very few come close to matching Apple's excellent designs, but there's certainly more choice.
Design
The way a PC looks is down to your choice of components. Unlike Apple's products, you aren't limited to a single colour or design ; there are hundreds of desktop and laptop computers available, in all manner of sizes and shapes. It's more than just a web browser or work tool-a PC can easily become an expression of your personal tastes. If you're prepared to spend some money, high-quality aluminium cases from companies such as Silverstone and Lian-Li come as close to Apple's designs as possible, and they can look stunning. Less expensive cases are often made from steel or plastic, but these are ideal for anyone who doesn't want to pay extra for styling.
Tower-style cases are great if you have the room for one, but if you don't then there's a myriad of smaller form-factor cases available for microATX and Mini-ITX motherboards. Such cases are still designed with user access in minds, so you're bound to find something big enough for your needs but still smaller than a fully fledged tower.
Whereas Apple would prefer it if you never got to see the inside of a Mac, and many PC builders take the opposite approach. They will often incorporate the interior into the design ; indeed, they actively show off the internal components. Clear side panels, cold cathode lighting and LED-lit cooling fans are all a matter personal taste and won't suit everyone. But what all such embellishments have in common is that they celebrate the technology inside your PC rather than hiding it away out of sight.
Of course, you spend more time using a PC than you do looking at it, which makes the monitor just an important as the case. Few computer monitors look as sleek as Apple's iMac enclosure, but there are plenty of well-designed models from a range of manufacturers, in far more sizes than Apple offers. Huge widescreen monitors with barely visible bezels are great, but you can also buy smaller, cheaper displays if you aren't worried about style. To watch the 27in IPS panel in an iMac, you would have to spend considerably more than the equivalent TN panel display, but there are still great monitors out to suit every budget.
With a monitor, keyboard, mouse and case from different manufacturers, the average PC can look jumbled and less streamlined than an Apple system. It also requires more cables ; third-part peripherals are beginning to use wireless connectivity, but they usually require a USB dongle or receiver box.
Build Quality
The build quality of a PC can vary wildly between manufacturers, depending on the care and attention of the system builders and the chosen components. In the main, PCs are built from plastic and sheet metal, which can make them more susceptible to knocks and scrapes than the all-aluminium bodies of most Mac products. You can buy all-aluminium PC cases, but you'll need to shop around to find complete PC systems that use these.
If you feel happier buying a PC from established brand such as Sony or Samsung, you can. As we mentioned before, these will probably be made in the same factories as Mac products. We've seen no evidence that PCs from a big-brand manufacturers are any more reliable than those that come from smaller system builders in the India.
Internal component quality and reliability shouldn't differ between PCs and Macs. If you want to be sure that your PC isn't going to suffer a breakdown, avoid bargain-basement hardware and buy from a manufacturer such as Asus, which generally offers longer warranties on its hardware. This is true whether you're buying components yourself or looking at the specs when shopping for a complete system.
If you buy a desktop PC from a retailer or system builder, it should be covered for at least a year, and many of our friends have more coverage throw in, Telephone support for day-to-day problems on a PC won't match up to Apple's excellent service, largely due to the limited variety of models and hardware with which Apple's support staff need to deal. Remember some PC companies won't uphold your warranty if you open the case to make upgrades.
Upgrades
If and when you do decide to upgrade, there's more scope on a PC than a Mac. Tower-style cases are easy to upgrade, thanks to their spacious interior design; there's plenty of room to add multiple hard disks, optical drives or expansion cards. Most cases include thumbscrews, and many are beginning to use tool-free hard disk and optical drive rails, so you shouldn't even need a screwdriver for many tasks. Windows 7 contains many standard drivers, and modern PC BIOS are far easier to navigate, so most new hardware should work without too much faffing about.
Windows based laptops are slightly more upgrade-friendly than the MacBook. Most have removable batteries that can be switched out, although we're starting to see more integrated batteries on Windows laptops that aren't designed to user-replaceable. It's also usually easy to remove the hard disk to replace a faulty drive or upgrade to a larger model.
Buying Options
Whether you want to buy a PC or build one from scratch, the variety is astounding. Competition is strong, and you can shop around between numerous suppliers and manufacturers to get the best laptops or PC for the lowest possible price. As hardware ages, it's quickly reduced in price to keep stock levels flowing, so its easy to pick up a bargain model from last year's ranges.
With hundreds of companies, and thousands of models, in the market, you'll need some help to choose the right one for you.
Additional Hardware
Microsoft is primarily a software company, but t still produces a range of PC peripherals including high-definition webcams, VoIP headsets, mice and keyboards. They compare well with the rest of the industry, but few stand out of their design. There are countless other manufacturers producing hardware for Windows based PCs.
MAC OS X
The tenth iteration of Apple's operating system is pre-installed on every Mac. Unlike Windows, it isn't available to buy as a standalone disc, so you can get it only by buying a computer from Apple. This Operating System, which is based on UNIX, has been around in one form or another for 10 years.
The major revisions to OS X are named after big cats, with the current 10.6 build codenamed Snow Leopard, and these revisions are released every year or two. Although these updates aren't compulsory, customers pay for each release. This seems harsh, but think of each upgrade as a new OS (like Windows XP, Vista and 7) and it's not so bad. Prices vary considerably depending on how significant the revision is, with the latest costing around Rs. 2,000 for a single Mac. Smaller security updates are free, but are compatible only with latest major revision.
Look and Feel
If you're coming from a Windows environment, the OS X can take a little while to get used to. The most prominent distinction between the two Operating Systems is the Desktop, but there are a lot of under-the-hood differences, too.
Windows users will immediately notice the lack of a Start menu. In its place is the Dock, a hub that contains frequently used programs, as well as shortcuts to important files and folders. The Dock has had several refinements across different version of OS X and is very versatile. Documents can be stored in stacks, and the Dock resizes depending on how many icons it holds, so you can fit more onscreen than in Windows.
Each application is represented by a high-resolution icon that expands as the mouse cursor moves over it. More shortcuts can be created by dragging a file or program from its folder into the Dock, or removed by dragging it out. As you open a program, a blue orb appears beneath its Dock icon to show it's running. Even if you close all open windows, the program will run in the background which speeds up the time it takes to open another file. You can force any running program to quit by click and holding its Dock icon.
The Dock is great for accessing frequently used programs, but to access other applications and files you'll need Finder. This is the equivalent of Windows Explorer, and displays files and folders in a nested list, so it's easy to navigate through multiple folders. Important folders can be highlighted in a range of colours so they stand out, which is useful for anyone who has a lot of photos or music in their multimedia collection. Finder includes a search bar to locate documents and applications quickly, but you can press Cmd-Space to bring up a search menu called Spotlight without having to touch Finder at all.
The panel on the left side of the Finder window contains shortcuts to frequently visited links, installed hard disks, applications, multimedia folders and search options are included ; to add more from your list of folders, drag them to the list. The final shortcut is for the iDisk, which is online storage linked to an Apple MobileMe account. Files added to iDisk can be downloaded on any computer, or an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with the iDisk app.
In the nested view, one click on any file will display a preview column with a thumbnail, file size and the date it was last edited. There are three other view modes, including an iTunes-style cover flow option that's great for browsing large photo albums quickly. Horizontal scrolling with the Mighty Mouse or multi-touch touchpad, is faster than previewing each file individually.
Application windows have similar buttons for minimise and close as on Windows. However, although the '+' button looks like it maximises a window, it doesn't. There's no way to make a window fill the screen quickly. Instead, '+' resizes the windows to match the content. This makes sense when working on a document but not when browsing the internet, with all those different sized web pages. There's also no neat window management, as with Windows 7; getting neatly lined-up windows is hard without a lot of manual resizing.
There is a neat way of dealing with a Desktop cluttered with open windows. To make it easier to find a program, Expose can rearrange every window into a grid temporarily with a single button press(F3 or a four-fingered swipe on a touchpad). Using the keyboard or mouse/pad, click on the application to bring it to the front.
Dashboard is a widget system that overlays several small applications temporarily over the OS X Desktop. Pressing the Dashboard key (usually F4), several programs fly onscreen using the same animation as Expose. As well as a calculator, clock, calendar and internet search bar, widgets such as a flight tracker, a unit converter and weather report are installed by default. More can be added by downloading them from the Apple website.
Launching an application, Windows users will notice the lack of a self-contained title bar. In OS X, the File, Edit, View and other menus aren't kept withing the application but moved to a static title bar at the top of the screen. Because it is application specific, the active application dictates which menus appear in the title bar. The Apple logo in the top left opens the Apple menu, containing links to options such as Sleep, Restart and Shut Down, plus the App store for Mac.
Because of this single title bar, Macs are more annoying to use over multiple monitors than PCs, as moving an application to the second display means you have to go back to the primary monitor to access its menus.
Software
Adding Mac-ready applications is easy; installers mount as virtual disks and the program inside just needs to be dragged over to the hard disk's Applications folder. Programs are really cleverly packaged folders containing everything you need to run an application. To remove an application, select it and press Cmd-backspace. Finding suitable programs can be difficult - the selection is small compared with Windows - but the App Store makes it easier. That said, the OS includes a lot of quality applications out of the box :
We've put together a comprehensive guide to help you make an informed decision. We're putting bias aside : some of our friends use PC, some use MAC and some use both, so we've strived for a balanced, objective analysis.
As well as comparing the Operating Systems and their respective hardware, we take a look at design, price and usability. From apple, we've taken the iMac desktop PC and a MacBook laptop. Representing Windows, we've built a PC using components similar to those Apple uses in the iMac, and an Asus laptop that costs Rs. 52,000.
PC Versus MAC
Apple is responsible for producing every aspect of a Mac, from the hardware and the operating system right down to the lovingly designed packaging. This ensures a certain level of quality, but also limits choice.
Design
Every Apple product undergoes meticulous design, overseen by British designer Jonathan Ive. Ive has been responsible for the minimalist appearance of Apple's line-up for the best part of a decade, shaping not only the iPhone and iPad but also iMac and the stunning MacBook Air. The latest iMac has a unibody aluminium chassis that is precision-cut from a block of metal to keep superfluous lines to a minimum. Even the MacBook, which is made from polycarbonate plastic, uses a similar process.
As well as looking great, Apple frequently introduces innovative new ideas to make its kit stand out from the competition. It has embraced wireless technologies to keep desk clutter to a minimum. Most users need only plug in a power lead does throw up one or two issues; to plug in a USB memory stick, you must reach around the back, as the ports are all located at the rear of the device. The SD card and DVD drive are more convenient side-mounted, through.
The MagSafe power connector uses a magnet to keep the cable tethered to the MacBook it is charging, so if it gets yanked accidentally it won't pull the laptop off your desk or lap. This is now a feature of every MacBook.
Taking a lead from its iPhone, Apple has introduced multi-touch gestures into its laptops. Its oversized touchpads provide plenty of room for two, three and even four finger gestures, which are built into the OS. Scrolling, rotating and punch-to-zoom are all slick, with no noticeable delay. Multi-touch is also accurate, rarely triggering a gesture by mistake.
In spite of these impressive innovations, Apple is behind the competition in certain areas. A second mouse button is a relatively new concept for many Mac owners, who are used to holding down the option key to bring up context sensitive menus. Apple has finally relented and added one to the Mighty Mouse which should ship as standard with all new iMacs.
Build Quality
However, there have been reports of iMacs overheating and of dust getting caught beneath the screen. Apple admitted a problem with the 27in iMac, releasing a software update ti prevent some screen flicker and unusual colour tints. It's worth remembering that for all their vaunted design, Apple products are put together in the same factories in China as Windows-based products.
Apple provides a typical one-year warranty on their products for hardware failure. It also provides 90 days of complimentary telephone support. You can extend your warranty support to 3 years with AppleCare, but this costs about Rs. 13,000 (for a MacBook).
Upgrades
Although it looks fantastic, the iMac's unibody design is difficult to openm requiring specialist tools and patience. Replacing the memory is relatively easy; the RAM slots are hidden behind a small cover beneath the screen. Replacing or upgrading other components requires more work - first, by removing the screen from the main chassis using suction cups and a Torx screwdriver.
Because Apple uses a lot of mobile components in its desktop machines, only a few parts can be upgraded by the end user. Beyond the optical drive or hard disk, almost every other component is available only through Apple as a replacement part. Unlike a PC, where a faulty or out-of-date graphics card can be replaced by a new one of any make or model, the iMac isn't user-upgradable. Unlike a desktop PC, you can't change the display for a new one-but then we can't see any reason, bar a malfunction, why you'd want to give up the stunning IPS panel.
It's a similar story for MacBook laptops, which are even harder to upgrade than their already difficult Windows counterparts. MacBook batteries are sealed units that can be hard to replace. When the battery loses its ability to hold a charge, the laptop must be returned to Apple for a replacement. Typically, a new battery costs around Rs.7,000, which also includes installation.
It can take a lot of effort to upgrade an Apple machine yourself, but there are plenty of online resources to help make the task easier ; one of the best is www.ifixit.com .However, Apple's warranty won't cover opening a Mac product beyond replacing or upgrading the memory.
Buying Options
The key point to consider when buying a Mac is cyclical nature of Apple's hardware business. Most of Mac product lines have been running for a new generations, with regular revisions and the odd redesign. There have been 3 main versions of the MacBook since 2006- two with plastic bodies and one (discontinued) aluminium design - and eight minor revision, mainly incremental processor speed increases. A new Mac is comparable to Windows PCs released at the same time. However, the hardware becomes dated over subsequent months until a minor revision comes along, and can age badly until the next redesign moves the product to a new chipset and processor architecture. If you buy the MacBook tested here, you're getting an Intel processor that's two generations old. Despite this, Apple does not drop the price on hardware as its ages.
There are several other Apple products worth consideration. The Mac Mini, a small form-factor PC, costs Rs. 40,000. It doesn't include a monitor or peripherals, but its compact dimensions make it an ideal home theater or second PC, although its hardware is looking dated.
The thin MacBook Air is a thing of beauty. Less than 17mm thick and weighing just 1.3kg it's one of the thinnest ultra-portable laptops around. There's an older Core 2 Duo processor, but it's more than fast enough for running basic tasks on OS X, and there's a definite speed boost from the SSD storage. Available as either in 11in or 13in model, prices start from around Rs. 56,000.
For power users, there's the MacBook pro laptop and Mac Pro desktop PC. The MacBook Pro is available in 13, 15, 17in models is versatile, portable and easily as powerful as a desktop computer. For even more power, the Mac Pro's tower-style desktop PC can be configured a high spec. But price start at around Rs. 1,30,000, and that's before you even factor in the price of a monitor.
Additional Hardware
Apple produces a range of peripherals beyond the Mighty Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. The newest addition to the range is the Rs. 4,000 Magic Trackpad, bringing the functionality of a laptop touchpad to a desktop iMac. Stylish and made from aluminium, it blends seamlessly with Apple's other products. Muti-touch gestures work just as well on an iMac, but the Magic Trackpad will be more useful for OS 10.7(Lion) launches in the summer. Refinements to the OS look set to exploit muti-touch further.
Adding a second monitor to an iMac can look odd, unless you choose Apple's Cinema Display. This 27in, Rs. 60,000 (around) giant matches the iMac's design and includes a built-in webcam, MagSafe power adaptor and mini DisplayPort connectivity.
Wireless connectivity is one of the iMac's strengths, so it's unsurprising that Apple offers a home network kit. Available in Express or Extreme the Airport unit integrates a wireless access point, media streamer and print server in one modem, but it's still user friendly and it's compatible wth PCs as well as Macs.
PC
Design
The way a PC looks is down to your choice of components. Unlike Apple's products, you aren't limited to a single colour or design ; there are hundreds of desktop and laptop computers available, in all manner of sizes and shapes. It's more than just a web browser or work tool-a PC can easily become an expression of your personal tastes. If you're prepared to spend some money, high-quality aluminium cases from companies such as Silverstone and Lian-Li come as close to Apple's designs as possible, and they can look stunning. Less expensive cases are often made from steel or plastic, but these are ideal for anyone who doesn't want to pay extra for styling.
Tower-style cases are great if you have the room for one, but if you don't then there's a myriad of smaller form-factor cases available for microATX and Mini-ITX motherboards. Such cases are still designed with user access in minds, so you're bound to find something big enough for your needs but still smaller than a fully fledged tower.
Whereas Apple would prefer it if you never got to see the inside of a Mac, and many PC builders take the opposite approach. They will often incorporate the interior into the design ; indeed, they actively show off the internal components. Clear side panels, cold cathode lighting and LED-lit cooling fans are all a matter personal taste and won't suit everyone. But what all such embellishments have in common is that they celebrate the technology inside your PC rather than hiding it away out of sight.
Of course, you spend more time using a PC than you do looking at it, which makes the monitor just an important as the case. Few computer monitors look as sleek as Apple's iMac enclosure, but there are plenty of well-designed models from a range of manufacturers, in far more sizes than Apple offers. Huge widescreen monitors with barely visible bezels are great, but you can also buy smaller, cheaper displays if you aren't worried about style. To watch the 27in IPS panel in an iMac, you would have to spend considerably more than the equivalent TN panel display, but there are still great monitors out to suit every budget.
With a monitor, keyboard, mouse and case from different manufacturers, the average PC can look jumbled and less streamlined than an Apple system. It also requires more cables ; third-part peripherals are beginning to use wireless connectivity, but they usually require a USB dongle or receiver box.
Build Quality
If you feel happier buying a PC from established brand such as Sony or Samsung, you can. As we mentioned before, these will probably be made in the same factories as Mac products. We've seen no evidence that PCs from a big-brand manufacturers are any more reliable than those that come from smaller system builders in the India.
Internal component quality and reliability shouldn't differ between PCs and Macs. If you want to be sure that your PC isn't going to suffer a breakdown, avoid bargain-basement hardware and buy from a manufacturer such as Asus, which generally offers longer warranties on its hardware. This is true whether you're buying components yourself or looking at the specs when shopping for a complete system.
If you buy a desktop PC from a retailer or system builder, it should be covered for at least a year, and many of our friends have more coverage throw in, Telephone support for day-to-day problems on a PC won't match up to Apple's excellent service, largely due to the limited variety of models and hardware with which Apple's support staff need to deal. Remember some PC companies won't uphold your warranty if you open the case to make upgrades.
Upgrades
If and when you do decide to upgrade, there's more scope on a PC than a Mac. Tower-style cases are easy to upgrade, thanks to their spacious interior design; there's plenty of room to add multiple hard disks, optical drives or expansion cards. Most cases include thumbscrews, and many are beginning to use tool-free hard disk and optical drive rails, so you shouldn't even need a screwdriver for many tasks. Windows 7 contains many standard drivers, and modern PC BIOS are far easier to navigate, so most new hardware should work without too much faffing about.
Windows based laptops are slightly more upgrade-friendly than the MacBook. Most have removable batteries that can be switched out, although we're starting to see more integrated batteries on Windows laptops that aren't designed to user-replaceable. It's also usually easy to remove the hard disk to replace a faulty drive or upgrade to a larger model.
Buying Options
Whether you want to buy a PC or build one from scratch, the variety is astounding. Competition is strong, and you can shop around between numerous suppliers and manufacturers to get the best laptops or PC for the lowest possible price. As hardware ages, it's quickly reduced in price to keep stock levels flowing, so its easy to pick up a bargain model from last year's ranges.
With hundreds of companies, and thousands of models, in the market, you'll need some help to choose the right one for you.
Additional Hardware
Microsoft is primarily a software company, but t still produces a range of PC peripherals including high-definition webcams, VoIP headsets, mice and keyboards. They compare well with the rest of the industry, but few stand out of their design. There are countless other manufacturers producing hardware for Windows based PCs.
MAC OS X
The tenth iteration of Apple's operating system is pre-installed on every Mac. Unlike Windows, it isn't available to buy as a standalone disc, so you can get it only by buying a computer from Apple. This Operating System, which is based on UNIX, has been around in one form or another for 10 years.
The major revisions to OS X are named after big cats, with the current 10.6 build codenamed Snow Leopard, and these revisions are released every year or two. Although these updates aren't compulsory, customers pay for each release. This seems harsh, but think of each upgrade as a new OS (like Windows XP, Vista and 7) and it's not so bad. Prices vary considerably depending on how significant the revision is, with the latest costing around Rs. 2,000 for a single Mac. Smaller security updates are free, but are compatible only with latest major revision.
Look and Feel
If you're coming from a Windows environment, the OS X can take a little while to get used to. The most prominent distinction between the two Operating Systems is the Desktop, but there are a lot of under-the-hood differences, too.
Windows users will immediately notice the lack of a Start menu. In its place is the Dock, a hub that contains frequently used programs, as well as shortcuts to important files and folders. The Dock has had several refinements across different version of OS X and is very versatile. Documents can be stored in stacks, and the Dock resizes depending on how many icons it holds, so you can fit more onscreen than in Windows.
Each application is represented by a high-resolution icon that expands as the mouse cursor moves over it. More shortcuts can be created by dragging a file or program from its folder into the Dock, or removed by dragging it out. As you open a program, a blue orb appears beneath its Dock icon to show it's running. Even if you close all open windows, the program will run in the background which speeds up the time it takes to open another file. You can force any running program to quit by click and holding its Dock icon.
The Dock is great for accessing frequently used programs, but to access other applications and files you'll need Finder. This is the equivalent of Windows Explorer, and displays files and folders in a nested list, so it's easy to navigate through multiple folders. Important folders can be highlighted in a range of colours so they stand out, which is useful for anyone who has a lot of photos or music in their multimedia collection. Finder includes a search bar to locate documents and applications quickly, but you can press Cmd-Space to bring up a search menu called Spotlight without having to touch Finder at all.
The panel on the left side of the Finder window contains shortcuts to frequently visited links, installed hard disks, applications, multimedia folders and search options are included ; to add more from your list of folders, drag them to the list. The final shortcut is for the iDisk, which is online storage linked to an Apple MobileMe account. Files added to iDisk can be downloaded on any computer, or an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with the iDisk app.
In the nested view, one click on any file will display a preview column with a thumbnail, file size and the date it was last edited. There are three other view modes, including an iTunes-style cover flow option that's great for browsing large photo albums quickly. Horizontal scrolling with the Mighty Mouse or multi-touch touchpad, is faster than previewing each file individually.
Application windows have similar buttons for minimise and close as on Windows. However, although the '+' button looks like it maximises a window, it doesn't. There's no way to make a window fill the screen quickly. Instead, '+' resizes the windows to match the content. This makes sense when working on a document but not when browsing the internet, with all those different sized web pages. There's also no neat window management, as with Windows 7; getting neatly lined-up windows is hard without a lot of manual resizing.
There is a neat way of dealing with a Desktop cluttered with open windows. To make it easier to find a program, Expose can rearrange every window into a grid temporarily with a single button press(F3 or a four-fingered swipe on a touchpad). Using the keyboard or mouse/pad, click on the application to bring it to the front.
Dashboard is a widget system that overlays several small applications temporarily over the OS X Desktop. Pressing the Dashboard key (usually F4), several programs fly onscreen using the same animation as Expose. As well as a calculator, clock, calendar and internet search bar, widgets such as a flight tracker, a unit converter and weather report are installed by default. More can be added by downloading them from the Apple website.
Launching an application, Windows users will notice the lack of a self-contained title bar. In OS X, the File, Edit, View and other menus aren't kept withing the application but moved to a static title bar at the top of the screen. Because it is application specific, the active application dictates which menus appear in the title bar. The Apple logo in the top left opens the Apple menu, containing links to options such as Sleep, Restart and Shut Down, plus the App store for Mac.
Because of this single title bar, Macs are more annoying to use over multiple monitors than PCs, as moving an application to the second display means you have to go back to the primary monitor to access its menus.
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Software
Adding Mac-ready applications is easy; installers mount as virtual disks and the program inside just needs to be dragged over to the hard disk's Applications folder. Programs are really cleverly packaged folders containing everything you need to run an application. To remove an application, select it and press Cmd-backspace. Finding suitable programs can be difficult - the selection is small compared with Windows - but the App Store makes it easier. That said, the OS includes a lot of quality applications out of the box :
- Safari
Safari has more visual effects than Internet Explorer, the default Windows web browser. The Top Sites tab displays 12 most visited pages in a wall, letting you rearrange and pin your favourites in place. An on-going dispute with Adobe over its Flash plug-in has resulted in a push for HTML 5 support, but you still need Flash to get a lot of web content to display correctly.
Downloaded files are saved to Downloads stack, so they're easy to access from the Dock, although this is also true of other browsers. Like most OS X applications, options are kept in the main title bar, leaving more room to display web pages, which requires less vertical scrolling.
- iPhoto
If your images didn't come out as you intended, there are plenty of options for editing them. Beyond the standard crop and red-eye removal tools, there are options to straighten a crooked photo, enhance its colours automatically and adjust brightness and contrast. A series of sliders adjust exposure, saturation and image sharpness, as well as temperature and noise levels. There's even the option to retouch blemishes, which is usually a feature found only on advanced image-editing software. Edited images can be turned into a greeting card, calendar or slideshow in a few clicks using the built-in templates, then emailed or exported to websites such as Flickr or Facebook.
If iPhoto lacks some of the advanced features you're used to seeing in other image editors then the comprehensive Aperture is available from the App store for around Rs. 12,000. For the budding amateur however, there are few features missing from iPhoto that would require additional software.
- iMovie
Clips are created automatically from imported video files and saved in chronological order. They can be trimmed and repositioned with a few mouse clicks, ready to be added to the timeline. It appears basic at first, but the timeline has a lot of depth; effects and transitions can be applied to any clip, and its audio channel can be separated to make it easier to segue between scenes, or replaced completely with a backing track or voice over. The extensive library of transitions and effects is impressive for a bundled product, as is the amount of stock footage, which is perfect for learning the basics.
Selecting a theme or the new trailers feature adds transitions and effects to a project, so you can produce polished results with minimal effort. The finished product can be exported directly to YouTube to share with family and friends.
- iTunes
Visually, there are few differences between the OS X version of iTunes and its PC counterpart. They use the same layout and functionality is identical, which should help anyone making the transition from Windows. The latest version includes the Ping social network for sharing musical tastes, but as it's limited to music it isn't as practical as Facebook.
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Additional Software
OS X includes many other useful default programs. GarageBand, for example, is a geat music creation tool with plenty of synthesised instruments and onscreen keyboard, so you don't need any extra equipment to make songs. Photo Booth uses the built-in webcam to take photos and video, add special effects and backgrounds. The instant messaging program iChat can send text or video to other Mac users or anyone with an AIM account. Finally, Apple includes the Mail application for anyone who wants a dedicated email client. Although we expect many people to have switched to webmail, the program can import accounts from Gmail, AOL and Microsoft Exchange. It can also rack RSS feeds and also integrates with the iCal calendar to manage meetings and social events.
Microsoft
It has gone through several redesigns and seen many improvements, but the key design principles behind Microsoft's operating system have remained the same. Microsoft releases a new version of Windows roughly every four years, and this is then pre-installed on laptops and PCs. You can also buy a standalone version of the operating system to install on a computer you build yourself; it costs around Rs. 8,000 for a single license of Windows 7 Home Premium.
During its lifespan, Microsoft usually releases at least one major Service Pack for each version of Windows; however, although it adds new behind-the-scenes features and vulnerability fixes, the basic Operating System remains the same. Critical updates are released on a more regular basis; as with Service Packs, these are all free. There are few hardware limitations to running Windows; it's backwards-compatible with older components, although performance will suffer when installed on very old systems.
Look and Feel
Windows 7, which is easily one of the most recognisable computer interface in the world, is centered around two main points of interaction. The Start menu is the main tool for launching programs, opening files and folders and accessing settings. In its original guise, it contained only application shortcuts, but it has been refined a great deal in the intervening years. An integrated search bar can help you to locate files, folders and applications very quickly, and applications are listed according to how often they're opened. Favourites can be pinned at the top of the menu for easier access. Jump lists, a new feature for Windows 7, allow you to open files in a specific program straight from the Start menu.
The Start menu forms part of the taskbar, which contains your open applications and the System Tray of notification icons. Text labels were removed in Windows 7, moving to an icon-only interface that takes up less room per application. Each icon can group application instances together; unlike previous versions of Windows, where each open window would have its own icon, the taskbar is less cluttered and easier to navigate. Hovering over an icon with the mouse reveals thumbnails of each open window, so you can choose a file or folder easily without having to navigate through multiple taskbar icons. By default, a program disappears from the taskbar when closed, but a shortcut for that application can be pinned permanently in place if required.
If you want to browse all your files, just click the Computer button in the Start menu. This navigation pane displays any connected storage, including external disks, optical drives and USB memory sticks. The simple directory structure can display the contents of one folder at a time, so there's often a lot of back and forth between folders when copying and moving files. Unless you specific locations when installing programs, your hard disks can soon fill up with folders that make it hard to find what you're after. Thankfully, the improved search tool means you can find files quickly in even the most disorganised folders.
Every applications opens in a self-contained window. Settings and options are accessed through a title bar, which is unique to each program and moves with the window. Microsoft has started to introduce its Ribbon interface, first seen in Office 2007, to some of the programs included with Windows. Its icon-based menus are easy to navigate, although confusing at first if you're used to the old style drop-down menus. Because all the functions of a program are constrained to its window, working with multiple monitors is arguably easier on Windows. Managing application is also arguably easier with buttons to maximise, minimise and close. In Windows 7, you can drag a window to keep its sides of the screen to automatically make it take up half of the display, or to the top to maximise. This makes it easy to work on multiple applications at once.
There are several software-based ways to improve productivity too, most notably with task switching keyboard shortcuts that bring different windows to the foreground of the desktop. The Alt-Tab keyboard shortcut has been a part of the OS for some time, enabling you to flip quickly between windows. Flip 3D, introduced in Windows Vista, is a more visually appealing method, but it performs essentially the same function.
Gadgets are desktop applications that usually provide web-based updates on such items as the news or weather. They were previously restricted to a vertical sidebar in Vista, but they can now be placed anywhere on the Windows 7 Desktop. Several gadgets are pre-installed with Windows, and more can be downloaded from the Windows website, but few are as polished as Microsoft's own. Once placed onscreen, gadgets can be assigned to always appear on top of other windows, or set to be transparent so they don't obscure more important applications. Pressing the Windows key and G together will bring every gadget to the front of the Desktop.
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Software
One massive advantage to using Windows is the vast amount of software available for it. The OS also includes a great deal of bundled software, ranging from games and multimedia players to image editors and web browsers. Few of these programs may be essential given the fact that there are free alternatives available on the internet, but some are certainly worth a mention.
It isn't as secure as Google Chrome or Firefox, but Internet Explorer is still the preferred web browser for most Windows users. Microsoft was recently forced to add the browser ballot page, which gives users the choice of various browsers; it market share has slowly fallen, but IE remains popular. The latest version matches other browsers for key features, with tabbed browsing and InPrivate mode, which prevents the browser recording your internet history.
Unlike previous editions, Windows 7 doesn't include an email client. Outlook has been discontinued, Microsoft is instead promoting Windows Live Mail. It's not included by default. but it's easily downloaded using Windows Update tool. As well as Gmail and Hotmail compatibility, the program can receive mail from an Exchange server. It integrates well with Windows Live services and can import all your contacts if you have an existing Windows Live ID. Although we could expect many people to be happy with webmail or an existing client, the easy-to-use interface makes Live Mail ideal if you have multiple email accounts.
Windows 7's approach to multimedia is a big improvement over that of its predecessors, with improvements to Windows Media Player and Windows Media Centre. Both will play music and video, including DVDs, and let you browse your photos. Media Player is designed to be used while sat at your PC, while Media Centre is optimised for living room TVs and is easily controlled by an optional remote PCs and laptops that are equipped with a TV tuner can use Media Center to record live television straight to the hard disk, then stream the content to any compatible UPnP or DLNA media player.
Previous versions of Media Player were popular for music playback, but there are now countless alternatives available on the internet. Its interface hasn't changed dramatically for several years, and it is starting to feel dated. Functionally, though, Media Player is as robust as ever, coping well with massive music collections and photo albums. There are hundreds of freely downloadable skins that can instantly transform its appearance to match a particular Desktop wallpaper or application, unlike iTunes.
It might use the new Ribbon interface, but good old Paint has remained mostly unchanged for the best part of a decade. A simple image-editing program, Paint can be used to create simple drawings but lacks many of the features necessary to touch up photos. Windows Live Photo Gallery is a better choice for this; as well as offering geo-tagging and facial recognition for organising your photos, it has more advanced image-editing tools, include retouching and red-eye removal. Although features such as image straightening are useful, they are automatic and can't be manually configured. This leaves the user with less control over the final image. Once your photos have been edited, they can be directly uploaded to Facebook, Flickr or YouTube from within the program.
Windows Movie Maker, a standard feature of previous editions of Windows, is not included in the latest version. It's replaced with Windows Live Movie Maker, another program bundled with the Live Essentials pack, but many features that made the original program useful have been removed. There's no longer a timeline view, so it's harder to edit multiple clips together smoothly. You can record from a Webcam or import files in various formats, add transitions or visual effects and upload finished projects to YouTube. Anyone who wants more functionality will have to look for an alternative such as Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD, which costs around Rs. 2,500.
Windows Live Essentials is a comprehensive if simple software suite. It requires a separate download, which is frustrating as many people may not realise the programs are available at all, although they can be found through the Windows update service
Additional Software
Two other components of the Windows Live Essentials package are Live Writer and Live Mesh. Writer and Live Mesh. Writer is a blogging tool that works with almost every blog platform, including Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, LiveJournal and WordPress. If you currently use a Web-based blogging tool, Writer may be a more user-friendly alternative. Mesh is a file synchronisation tool that can keep important documents up to date on multiple computers at once . If you frequently move files between PCs, Mesh can do the job automatically over the internet, and it even runs on Macs, too.
Microsoft includes several games with Windows 7. Classics from previous versions, including Minesweeper, Solitaire and FreeCell, have received graphical updates; others are enabled for internet play. Backgammon, Checkers and Spades players can challenge human competitors online instead of playing only against the computer. Two new additions are Chess Titans and Mahjong Titans, based on the classic board games. Purble Place is a colourful game aimed at kids. Texas Hold'Em and Tinker can be downloaded from Microsoft's website.
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Performance benchmarksWhen we test Windows-based PCs, we use a benchmark suite that can put any computer through its paces. As well as testing a processor's maximum clock speed in the image editing and video encoding test, it also pushes multi-core CPUs to the limit with a multitasking
benchmark. This is a great indicator of the performance you can expect from a PC, but it isn't designed to work on OS X. To ensure we could compare Apple's hardware and Operating System with a Windows-based PC in a fair way, we created a new set of cross-platform benchmarks to highlight whether one OS handles particular tasks better than the other.
Like their predecessors, the new benchmarks consists of three tests. We ran all three tests several times, producing an average score for both PC and Mac that we could pick an overall performance champion:
- Image Editing
- Video Encoding
- Multitasking
Results Analysis
Because we built our test PC using components that are identical (or very similar) to those used in the iMac, the results of our benchmarks should highlight performance of differences between OS X and Windows. Unsurprisingly, the results were close, but they did indicate that each operating system has certain strengths and weaknesses.
After several runs, the Windows machine came out narrowly top overall because it consistently beat the iMac in both image editing and video encoding. This suggests that for single tasks, a PC will perform slightly faster than a Mac if it uses identical components. However, each time we ran the benchmarks, the iMac was faster during the multitasking test. This indicates that Apple's Operating system is splitting tasks across processor cores.
Despite these differences, the overall gap in performance is very small. We were pleased to see little impact when switching from one operating system to the other; choosing between a PC and a Mac involves comparing factors other than performance.
The results for the laptops require greater consideration. Asus's U36JC has more memory and a faster processor. It was no surprise to find it was faster in every test by a significant margin, despite that the MacBook costs around Rs. 56,000 more. A Windows-based laptop, then, makes more sense for anyone who wants both performance and value from a portable computer.
Everyday Use
Performance benchmarks can tell us which PC is more powerful, but they can't tell us how a computer will perform in everyday situations. One of the most irritating things about using a PC is waiting for it to come on, so we compared the startup, shutdown and sleep times of both machines using a stopwatch.
Start Up
To check startup times, we measured the time from the power button being pressed to the moment a webpage was loaded using Google Chrome. Both systems use solid-state disks, which dramatically improve startup times when compared with those that use traditional hard disks. Despite using different boot processes, the Mac and PC had almost identical startup times. The iMac hides its boot process, displaying a white screen and grey Apple logo while low level system drivers are started by the EFI chip on the motherboard. It took a respectable 50s to load the web page from first pressing the power button. Despite using the older BIOS technology to load its system drivers, the Windows-based PC was slightly faster, taking 47s to perform the same.
Sleep
For day to day use, sleep mode is far more convenient than a full shut-down; it can save any open programs to memory ready to resume at a later point. We use sleep mode on our PCs during the working week, only shutting them completely for the weekend.
Both Operating Systems are optimised for this power-saving mode, but the iMac took the lead over Windows. With several applications open, it took just four seconds to enter sleep mode and a further three seconds to resume. The Windows-based caches programs to memory slightly differently, so with the same basic programs running it took nine seconds to enter sleep mode and a further seven seconds to resume.
Shut Down
Using a power tester, we made sure that each machine had powered down fully when measuring shut-down times. Clicking shut-down in OS X will bring up an alert box that checks to make sure that you intended to shut-down the machine. This can be cancelled to return to the operating system, or confirmed to turn the Mac off. It took eight seconds to shut down a second time.
With the changes made to the start menu in Windows 7, the shut-down is now a one click option that can't be cancelled once activated. If you accidentally click the button, there's no way to cancel it. Once we clicked shut-down, it took nine seconds for the Windows-based PC to power down completely.
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Security
The popular misconception is that Mac OS X is more secure than Windows, although it lacks many of the safety features present in Microsoft's Operating System, That said, Mac owners are far less likely to fall victim to a virus while surfing the web.
Apple's market share is currently around 10 percent of all computer users, so hackers and malicious software designers have very little to gain financially from targeting Mac users. Most threats designed to attack Windows PCs simply won't be able to infect a Mac in the same way due to differences in the operating systems.
However, if the balance were to shift and Apple became a dominant presence, it would'nt be a big step for criminals to adapt their software to attack Mac users.
Although there aren't as many Mac-specific viruses in the wild, this doesn't mean that Apple products are immune from internet threats. Many Mac owners are more lackadaisical about internet security, often forgoing virus protection completely in the belief that OS X is inherent 'safer' than the alternatives. If you think we're being biased, consider for its operating system and bundled software.
OS X is easily as vulnerable as Windows when it comes to unsecure applications; web browsers, emails and the Java and Flash plug-ins are frequently targeted. Now that Apple is using common components such as Intel processors in its products, it is becoming easier to write a malicious code that can attack the same exploit on multiple platforms. Threats that rely on user mistakes, such as phishing attacks, identity fraud and scam emails, can still cause problems for anyone who isn't careful about how they protect their personal data on the internet, regardless of their operating system. Therefore, people who do use OS X shouldn't get complacent. It's important to keep all software up to date, either manually or by using the update tools that are built into every operating system.
Using a router with a hardware firewall to hide a system from direct attacks can certainly help, as will not using an administrator account on a regular basis. Running an anti-virus program can also help to protect any system from external threats. Although there are fewer options for Mac users, some of the big companies such as Symantec and McAfee offer programs that are compatible with OS X. As well as paid software, free alternatives such as ClamXav are equally effective and can help keep viruses from taking control of your system.
Applications
Beyond the (admittedly excellent) default programs that are bundled with OS X, Apple simply cannot match Microsoft when it comes to the volume of applications available for it operating system. Because Mac users make up such a small segment of the market, there's very little financial incentive for a software company to make software that's compatible with OS X. This is a problem compounded by the excellent software that Apple itself ships with every Mac.
On the other hand, plenty of freeware applications have been designed with multiple applications have been designed with multiple operating systems in mind. Many popular programs, including Google's Chrome web browser, VLC media player, the OpenOffice productivity suite and sound editor Audacity, are compatible with OS X. If you use freeware applications on a regular basis, you shouldn't be too inconvenienced when using a Mac instead of Windows.
Commercial software might be limited, but there is one big exception: creative individuals and media professionals are very well catered for. Almost every major application used in the music, video and publishing industries has a Mac-compatible version. Adobe's Creative Suite is available for OS X in its entirety; this includes Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, which are used in desktop publishing, Premiere Pro and After Effects for video editing, and Dreamweaver for web design.
Apple fans would argue that many of these cross-platform applications run better on OS X than they do on Windows. In all likelihood, they may well be slightly less crash-prone, due to the limited range of Apple hardware. However, as our tests show, performance differences between the two operating systems should be minor.
However, if the balance were to shift and Apple became a dominant presence, it would'nt be a big step for criminals to adapt their software to attack Mac users.
Although there aren't as many Mac-specific viruses in the wild, this doesn't mean that Apple products are immune from internet threats. Many Mac owners are more lackadaisical about internet security, often forgoing virus protection completely in the belief that OS X is inherent 'safer' than the alternatives. If you think we're being biased, consider for its operating system and bundled software.
OS X is easily as vulnerable as Windows when it comes to unsecure applications; web browsers, emails and the Java and Flash plug-ins are frequently targeted. Now that Apple is using common components such as Intel processors in its products, it is becoming easier to write a malicious code that can attack the same exploit on multiple platforms. Threats that rely on user mistakes, such as phishing attacks, identity fraud and scam emails, can still cause problems for anyone who isn't careful about how they protect their personal data on the internet, regardless of their operating system. Therefore, people who do use OS X shouldn't get complacent. It's important to keep all software up to date, either manually or by using the update tools that are built into every operating system.
Using a router with a hardware firewall to hide a system from direct attacks can certainly help, as will not using an administrator account on a regular basis. Running an anti-virus program can also help to protect any system from external threats. Although there are fewer options for Mac users, some of the big companies such as Symantec and McAfee offer programs that are compatible with OS X. As well as paid software, free alternatives such as ClamXav are equally effective and can help keep viruses from taking control of your system.
Applications
Beyond the (admittedly excellent) default programs that are bundled with OS X, Apple simply cannot match Microsoft when it comes to the volume of applications available for it operating system. Because Mac users make up such a small segment of the market, there's very little financial incentive for a software company to make software that's compatible with OS X. This is a problem compounded by the excellent software that Apple itself ships with every Mac.
On the other hand, plenty of freeware applications have been designed with multiple applications have been designed with multiple operating systems in mind. Many popular programs, including Google's Chrome web browser, VLC media player, the OpenOffice productivity suite and sound editor Audacity, are compatible with OS X. If you use freeware applications on a regular basis, you shouldn't be too inconvenienced when using a Mac instead of Windows.
Commercial software might be limited, but there is one big exception: creative individuals and media professionals are very well catered for. Almost every major application used in the music, video and publishing industries has a Mac-compatible version. Adobe's Creative Suite is available for OS X in its entirety; this includes Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, which are used in desktop publishing, Premiere Pro and After Effects for video editing, and Dreamweaver for web design.
Apple fans would argue that many of these cross-platform applications run better on OS X than they do on Windows. In all likelihood, they may well be slightly less crash-prone, due to the limited range of Apple hardware. However, as our tests show, performance differences between the two operating systems should be minor.
Traditionally, Macs have been the preferred system for musicians and DJs, because they offered lower latencies than Windows and were able to deal with large file sizes without crashing - a regular occurrence an older versions of Microsoft's operating system. Although this may no longer be the case, the three major audio production programs - Cubase, Ableton Live and Reason - are all cross-platform. These programs aren't for everyone particularly as they cost thousands of rupees for a single-user license, but for many professionals they are indispensible.
Not every Mac owner needs one for work. At the time of writing, three most popular programs available through Apples website are the Rosetta Stone language tutor, iBank money management and Apple's own iWork productivity suite. This productivity suite, which is one of the few Apple-made programs not included in OS X by default, costs Rs. 5,000 and includes Pages, a word processor that also handles page layout, spreadsheet tool Numbers and even presentation creator Keynote.
Even Microsoft, Apple's biggest competitor, offers a Mac-compatible version of its popular Office software, although it has less functionality than the equivalent Windows version. The 2011 version of this useful productivity suite includes Word, Excel and Powerpoint, if you buy Office, the cost is almost same as iWork for Home and Student edition. However, if you want the Outlook email client, you'll have to buy the Home and Business edition, twice the price at around Rs. 10,000. Neither version includes Access or Publisher, which are exclusive to Windows.
Apple seem to be aware that OS X is seen by many as inferior to Windows when it comes to software, and has invested heavily in the App store for Mac. This service, which is based heavily on iTunes App store, is a hub for Apple customers to buy OS-X-compatible software and games. Currently, there are a few premium offerings from third-party publishers and Apple themselves, but the store is filled with budget or free apps that have little functionality. Although it's only been available for a few months, the App Store's sale have eclipsed software purchases from Apple's retail stores.
The Third Option ?
If you like the idea of buying a Mac, but you don't want to say goodbye to Windows, there is an alternative option that can provide the best of both worlds. Once you've bought Apple's hardware, you can install a copy of Windows on it using the Boot Camp utility built in to OS X.
Using Boot Camp, the operating system creates a new partition on an installed hard disk, ready for a Windows installation. An internet connection is required to download some Mac-compatible Windows drivers, but the process is painless as long as you now how to install Windows. The utility modifies the boot menu automatically, giving user the choice of which operating system to load at startup. It also installs a small widget that sits in the Windows System Tray, letting you toggle a shut-down that automatically reboots the system into OS X. The process is non-destructive, so if you no longer need Windows you can delete the partition and recover the disk space.
Boot Camp supports 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista, but only Windows 7 has full 32-bit and 64-bit support. The cost of a Windows license must be factored in to the overall cost, as you won't be able to use an existing copy that's already installed on another computer. On a MacBook Air, you'll need an external optical drive as the thin ultra-portable doesn't have one built-in.
Not every Mac owner needs one for work. At the time of writing, three most popular programs available through Apples website are the Rosetta Stone language tutor, iBank money management and Apple's own iWork productivity suite. This productivity suite, which is one of the few Apple-made programs not included in OS X by default, costs Rs. 5,000 and includes Pages, a word processor that also handles page layout, spreadsheet tool Numbers and even presentation creator Keynote.
Even Microsoft, Apple's biggest competitor, offers a Mac-compatible version of its popular Office software, although it has less functionality than the equivalent Windows version. The 2011 version of this useful productivity suite includes Word, Excel and Powerpoint, if you buy Office, the cost is almost same as iWork for Home and Student edition. However, if you want the Outlook email client, you'll have to buy the Home and Business edition, twice the price at around Rs. 10,000. Neither version includes Access or Publisher, which are exclusive to Windows.
Apple seem to be aware that OS X is seen by many as inferior to Windows when it comes to software, and has invested heavily in the App store for Mac. This service, which is based heavily on iTunes App store, is a hub for Apple customers to buy OS-X-compatible software and games. Currently, there are a few premium offerings from third-party publishers and Apple themselves, but the store is filled with budget or free apps that have little functionality. Although it's only been available for a few months, the App Store's sale have eclipsed software purchases from Apple's retail stores.
The Third Option ?
If you like the idea of buying a Mac, but you don't want to say goodbye to Windows, there is an alternative option that can provide the best of both worlds. Once you've bought Apple's hardware, you can install a copy of Windows on it using the Boot Camp utility built in to OS X.
Using Boot Camp, the operating system creates a new partition on an installed hard disk, ready for a Windows installation. An internet connection is required to download some Mac-compatible Windows drivers, but the process is painless as long as you now how to install Windows. The utility modifies the boot menu automatically, giving user the choice of which operating system to load at startup. It also installs a small widget that sits in the Windows System Tray, letting you toggle a shut-down that automatically reboots the system into OS X. The process is non-destructive, so if you no longer need Windows you can delete the partition and recover the disk space.
Boot Camp supports 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista, but only Windows 7 has full 32-bit and 64-bit support. The cost of a Windows license must be factored in to the overall cost, as you won't be able to use an existing copy that's already installed on another computer. On a MacBook Air, you'll need an external optical drive as the thin ultra-portable doesn't have one built-in.
7 comments:
"Apple is responsible for producing every aspect of a Mac, from the hardware" is a false statement.
Moreover, the bench marks show that PC performs better than MAC, so why buy a MAC !
It depends from person to person and usage too !
The fourth Idea, Use Kalway DVD to use Mac OS on other OS( Driver may be an issue but community will help you a lot).
By the way you can have almost copy of mac with more security and 0 price ... Macubuntu :P.
Mac's kernel is no good it is actually build from MACH, initially GNU thought of using it for their OS but they discarded due to many problems. Now Linux kernel is more mature(and bloated as well :P ),
Though Mac's design is good but they still are giving old hardware.
Can I get Intel core i7??
PC is better choice for people in India( and third world), though Linux is best choice.
I don't agree with your statement 'Mac's design is good but they still are giving old hardware.
Can I get Intel core i7??'
Yes you can get Core i7 on Mac Book !
4th Option: Use Ubuntu
Wow, what a thorough article. I remember having these debates with my friends about Commodore 64 vs Amiga 500 (showing my age there!). I actually wrote a blog on my site yesterday about the quantity of smartphone operating systems. I argue that having plenty of phone OSs is a good thing. Perhaps you'll prove me wrong one day and write a blog about one remaining phone OS vs the other!
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